Setting the Public Agenda in the Digital Communication Age

Abstract

The agenda-setting theory is one of the powerful study fields in communication research. Nevertheless, it is not a settled theory. Recent studies based on big data indicate seemingly contradictory results. While some findings reinforce McCombs and Shaw’s original model (i.e. the media set the public agenda), others demonstrate great power of social media to set media’s agenda, what is usually described as reverse agenda-setting. This article – based on an interactional model of agenda setting building – indicates how such results are actually consistent with each other. They reveal a complex multidirectional (and to some extent) unpredictable network of interactions that shape the public debate, which is based on different kinds of agenda (thematic or factual) and time lengths (short, medium or long terms).